Gordon visited the regions along the lower course of the Orange River (Namaqualand) for the first time during his third expedition lasting from 27 June 1779 until 13 January 1780. Two giraffes, Giram camelopardalis (Linnaeus, 1758), were shot on this trip and both are interesting for different reasons. Some ten years ago, the former occurrence of the giraffe in the north-westem Cape Province was still debated (Roberts 195 1: 270, Dagg 1971: fig. 3, Knunbiegel 1971: 117), but it is usually accepted nowadays (e.g. Dagg & Foster 1976: 6). Usually just one record can be quoted as evidence. On 28 November 1663, the expedition party led by Jonas de la Guerre sighted two "camels" at a place at least as far south as the Spoeg River, some 190 km below the Orange at about 30030'5 (Molsbergen 19 16, I: 1 18, Mossop 1947: viii, Bigalke 195 1). Gordon's first giraffe was killed on the south bank of the Orange River on 12 October 1779. It is certainly the latest, and an almost unique, record of this animal in the N.W. Cape Province. Some of his contemporaries also encountered giraffes in Namaqualand, but invariably this occurred after crossing the Orange River into southern Namibia. Their reports will be reviewed in section 2 in order to allow a comparison with Gordon's efforts.